Photo: This undated handout photo released by the South Korea Navy in Seoul shows high-speed patrol boats armed with canons and machine guns, 10 Nov 2009. Image from Voice of AmericaFrom The Wall Street Journal:
One trigger for the collapse of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago was the flow of East Germans across their country's newly opened border to Hungary, then on through Austria to West Germany. One day a similar flow of refugees from North Korea to China and on to South Korea could help bring down Kim Jong Il's barbarous regime and help re-unify Korea.
We hope the subject of North Korean refugees in China is on President Obama's agenda when he visits Beijing next week. There are at least tens of thousands of refugees hiding in China and perhaps as many as 300,000, according to human rights groups. Beijing's policy—contrary to international law—is to track them down and send them back to the North, where they face severe punishment for the "crime" of leaving their country without permission. Anyone who helps the refugees is subject to fines, arrest and jail time. Under Chinese law, even giving food to a refugee is a crime.
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My Comment: I cannot even imagine the horrors that exist in North Korea, but over the years I have been fortunate to receive a good education on what is happening in the Hermit Kingdom. My Godfather is Korean, and much of my knowledge of the Peninsula comes from him, his family, and his numerous business and government contacts.
When I lived in South Korea in the late 1980s, my view of the North was that of a schizophrenic child playing with deadly weapons .... that view has only been reinforced in the past 20 years .... more so than in the past week.
On the one hand, the North provokes a naval gun battle that results in heavy damage of one of their naval patrol boats and threats of retailiation, then a few days later they act as if business is normal.
This is their behavior .... this is how they think. This is how they have always operated.
Will this continue .... I now have my doubts. Altitudes in Asia are changing rapidly and for the good. Countries like North Korea are now regarded as pariah states .... and are being treated as such. Will the North lash out against this change in altitude .... probably .... but in the Asian context they are a "pipsqueak" power and everyone now knows it.